Container



M. GOLDSTEIN Sept. 1, 1970 CONTAINER Filed April 25. 1968 FIG. 2.

FIG. 4.

lNVENTOR MARK GOLDSTEIN ATTQRNEYS United States Patent 3,526,351 CONTAINER Mark Goldstein, Haddonfield, N.J., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Logistics Industries Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 25, 1968, Ser. No. 724,066 Int. Cl. B65d /72 US. Cl. 229-7 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container formed by a plurality of walls has one wall with a plurality of spaced openings. A resilient strip has a pair of spaced undercut bosses, one of which is anchored in one of the openings, and the other of which is removably secured in the other Opening to provide a readily removable closure therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a quick access opening in the wall of a container. It is particularly useful, for example, in connection with small cardboard containers of the type provided with end flaps for closing off the ends thereof. Such containers are widely used for holding parts which, in many cases, are individually removed at different times. Under such circumstances getting access to a part by opening and closing the end flaps is time consuming as compared to using the structure of this invention. Similarly, the invention is applicable to a wide variety of containers where ready access to the interior is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A container having a plurality of walls with one of the walls having a pair of spaced openings. A resilient strip of, for example, polyvinylchloride, polyethylene or polypropylene is anchored in one of the openings and is removably secured to the other opening which provides access to the interior of the container. Advantageously, the strip extends beyond the wall adjacent the last mentioned opening to form a gripping portion. It is preferred to anchor the strip in the first mentioned opening employing an undercut boss. Similarly, it is preferred to have an undercut boss for entry into the other opening. While the bosses may be any desired geometric shape, it is advantageous to have them circular, particularly in the case of the boss used to anchor the strip to permit the pivoting of the strip away from the access opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a container in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of the container of FIG. 1 taken on the planes indicated by the line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side perspective view of the container of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a portion of the strip of FIG. 1 in the closed position; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the anchored portion of the strip of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A container 2 has a top wall 4, a bottom Wall 6, a side wall 8, and a side wall 10. Each end of container 2 is "ice closed by a pair of inner flaps 16 and 18 pivotally connected to side walls 8 and 10, respectively, and an outer flap 20 pivotally connected to bottom wall 6 and having a tuck portion 22 which is adapted to be tucked in below top wall 4 and above inner flaps 16 and 18. A flap 24 is pivotally secured to bottom wall 6 and glued to the interior of side wall 10. As thus described, the container 2 can be made out of cardboard, fiberboard, or the like and is well known to those skilled in the art.

Top wall 4 is provided with a relatively small anchoring opening 30 and a relatively large access opening 32. A transparent resilient strip 34 is provided with an anchoring boss 36 which is secured in opening 30. Boss 36 has an undercut portion 38 which engages wall 4 and a peripheral wall 40 which slopes outwardly away from the undercut portion 38 so that the maximum diameter of the boss 36 is greater than the diameter of opening 30.

Strip 34 is also provided with a boss 44 which is adapted to enteraccess opening 32. Boss 44 has an under cut portion 46 which engages wall 4 and a peripheral wall 48 which slopes outwardly from undercut portion 46 so that boss 44 has a maximum diameter greater than the diameter of access opening 32. Strip 34 is provided with a gripping portion 52 which extends slightly beyond the edge of top wall 4.

Container 2 is illustrated in FIG. 2 as containing relatively small parts 56.

When it is desired to remove a part 56 from container 2, gripping portion 52 is engaged and pulled upwardly away from access opening 32 which action pulls boss 44 out of access opening 32. Strip 34 may then be held back away from opening 32 or, as illustrated in FIG. 1, may be pivoted about the center of anchoring opening 30 until it is clear of opening 32.

It will be understood that the above described embodiment is illustrative and is not intended to be limiting.

I claim:

1. A container comprising:

a bottom wall, side walls and a top wall,

said top wall having a pair of spaced circular openings,

a closure strip having a pair of spaced undercut circular bosses respectively removably engaged in said spaced openings, and

gripping means on said strip adjacent one of said bosses to remove said one boss from its respective opening and rotate the other boss in its respective opening to provide access to the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,321,042 6/1943 Preis 2297 2,705,346 4/1955 Schlabach et a1. 22033 XR 3,080,088 3/ 1963 Corrinet 220-60 XR 3,169,679 2/ 1965 Hunter 22033 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 744,146 2/1956 Great Britain.

DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 220--33 

